Mars is a hellhole, and there is no changing that with wishful think and handwaving.
No, but hard work, ingenuity and the desire to explore and push boundaries certainly can change it.
No it can't. We have no technology, even vaguely planned technology, that will change it from being a hell hole.
Antarctica is a hell hole, so is death valley, so is the ocean floor. We can and do visit and live there, we can do the same on Mars.
There are far, far more people willing and eager to go live on Mars than we could ever send there now or in the near future.
We don't have to terraform it to make it livable, we can build structures to live in instead. Eventually quite comfortable cities could be built. This is technology we could put together now, if we spent the money and effort on it. We just have other priorities, but it's certainly something we could do if we wanted to.
Nobody is forcing you to go, nothing wrong with wanting to stay here.
Well, thanks, that's good to know. It's a moot point, as nobody is going to live on mars in my lifetime. Maybe some billionaire will persuade some people to go and die there, but that's not quite the same thing.
Nobody is going to need to be persuaded to go, there are tons of people willing and happy to do it. Even ones willing to go live the rest of their lives there on a one way trip. People die all the time doing things they want, I think going to Mars is a better use of ones life than sitting at home and eating themselves to death.
Just don't stomp on peoples dreams, jeez.
We're just having a debate on an obscure internet forum, not sure who's dreams I'm crushing? The great majority of the world doesn't give a flying crap about mars.
If someone wants to fund a manned trip to mars, then there's nothing I'm going to do stop them, even if I could. I don't want to a penny of my taxpayer's money going towards it - though funding probes etc for scientific research is fine with me.
The question is, who will fund this? There is zero economic case for going - no payback. Any "mission to mars" will just become a gigantic money pit.
Lots of things were money pits before they became profitable. Lots of things were money pits before they helped spur innovation and discoveries. Where would GPS and global communications be without the big money pit that the space race was?
And guess what... there is more to life than capitalism and profit. Humans do things because we want to do them, because they inspire us and because we want adventure and to explore.
You don't want any part of it, that's fine. Not everyone wants to go to the bottom of the ocean and see what's down there, but luckily for the rest of us, some do.
it's people who were not born rich but got there anyway and want to spend it on something worthwhile, not just clutch at it.
If they want to spend there wealth on something worthwhile, there are about a million things on that list before ego driven "boys with toys" rocket adventures. As that's all it is and the end of the day.
That's just your opinion. To me, they are pushing humanity forward, giving countless people the awe and wonder of seeing us explore space and make new discoveries. To me, and to a very large number of people, space exploration has been and continues to be very worthwhile.
To you it's just boys and their toys. To me, it's humanity literally reaching for the stars.